Godzilla the Destructor
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Summary: Yuko moves into a building built by Ivo Shandor in Tokyo's hotel district, just as the city starts to troubled by the supernatural. Dr. O'Shay is asked by the police and the government to have the Ministry of Science investigate, and he hires the Ghostbusters.
1. Chapter 1

**Godzilla the Destructor**

 _ **1.**_

 **Egon** Spengler stared into the screen of his computer. It had been awful quiet in NYC for almost 6 months now, paranormal wise. The Ghostbusters had few calls, but they had been too busy on the lecture circuit to have noticed, certainly their bank accounts hadn't suffered due to the slowdown in the spectral removal business.

Downstairs, Raymond Stantz was happily rubbing in a third coat of Simonize on Ecto-1, the souped up hearse that served as the team's utility vehicle. Ray had spent the morning doing mechanic work on the '59 Caddy. He'd drained the oil, dropped the pan and replaced seals, and gaskets after inspecting the crankshaft. Satisfied that the engine bottom was good for another 50,000 miles or so, he'd buttoned it up and went to work giving it a good wash and wax job.

On the other side of the building, in the main office area, Janine Melnitz sat at her desk waiting for the phone to ring. It had been over a week since it had rung, and that had been a crank call. The last time they had a call from an actual client was over 3 weeks ago. Janine busied herself by reading another true romance paperback novel, and by touching up her nail polish.

Leaning back in a swivel chair a few feet from the back of Melnitz's desk, Peter Venkman was half asleep, occasionally snoring.

Upstairs, Egon watched as rows of figures flowed vertically across the screen of his computer monitor. Suddenly, he quickly smacked the space-bar on the computer keyboard, and rapidly scrolled the mouse. His jaw dropped as he re-read the last page of data that he had recalled. "SHIT!" he voiced.

* * *

 **Nearly** halfway around the globe, Acetylene Drake Lampe looked up at the derelict building in the middle of Tokyo's swank hotel district. He and the real estate agent had just exited the ancient hotel and he had been impressed by what he'd seen. The old building had been one of the few prewar structures still standing, having been totally unscathed by the allied bombing raids during the second world war. The early skyscraper had been designated a historical landmark by the city planners at the insistence of the emperor, it had been waiting for decades to be renovated.

"What is the history of this place?", Lamp asked.

Marukubi Boon ruffled though the pages the folder he carried in his satchel. The real estate agent had been tasked by the city to make certain historically protected properties available to developers who were able to present development plans that would preserve the character of the buildings, while bringing them up to date. Boon, found the writeup on the property that he was now about to show his prospective client, and quickly scanned it for the important details.

"This building is nearly a century old, it dates back to the 1920's," Boon explained. "It was a period before Japan appeared as a threat to the western world, there were quite a few American tycoons doing business here in Tokyo. This building was built as a residence for an American based religious group wishing to have a retreat far from their NYC base. Their leader, a man named Ivo Shandor personally oversaw its construction. Strangely, once completed this hotel was only occupied briefly from 1924 until 1929. It was boarded up during the American occupation period, and after the United States withdrew their forces in the early 1950's this property has passed between various owners, rarely being in revenue service."

"Strange," Lampe muttered. "It looks well built."

"It was a very expensive building to erect at the time," Boon said. "Withstanding many earthquakes, and nearby bomb explosions during the war, is proof that it was well designed and constructed."

"Then why was it left unoccupied for so long?"

"An interesting question," Boon said. "The Imperial government briefly did use this hotel for the purposes of the war department, but relocated that function elsewhere. The American forces also used it for their headquarters for a time, but soon vacated and had the building boarded up."

"Why?" Lampe asked.

"It was believed that the building was haunted."

"Baka!" Lampe laughed.

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Boon replied. "I've been inside myself, and I've seen nothing threatening. Still, history has painted a dark mark on the building, which is why it has sat here waiting for the wreaking ball. For some reason, the emperor wished it placed on the historical list, perhaps its architecture does speak of an era now gone."

"Yes, it does," Lampe said. "I think a few coats of paint, some new plumbing, and the latest robotic systems will make this place profitable, especially at the price you've quoted me."

* * *

 **Yuko Kisaragi** was preoccupied at her desk, scanning through page after page of listings on her computer when Dr. O'Shay walked into the office. He plopped his briefcase onto his desk and powered up his laptop computer. After reading though a half dozen emails, he glanced up across the room at his assistant, who hadn't said a word to him since he walked in.

"Yuko, is something the matter?", the doctor asked.

Yuko, quickly looked up, and face palmed.

"Sumimasen, Hakase." Yuko blurted out. "I didn't notice you walk in."

"That's not like you, Yuko," O'Shay said. "Is something the matter?"

"It's a personal problem," She said. "Something I need to take care of. I'm sorry for letting it get in the way of my work."

"Nonsense," the doctor said. "Anything I can do to help?"

"I don't think so," Yuko sighed. "The lease on my apartment is up next month, and the landlord wants to nearly double my rent. Housing is so expensive in this city, I've been busy trying to find someplace else to live that's close by to the Ministry, but I'm afraid there isn't anything available that I can afford."

"Well, I could see if we could get you a raise in salary," O'Shay said. "It's been nearly a year since your last evaluation."

"That would be nice," Yuko laughed, "But I need to find something quickly."

"Take the afternoon off then," the doctor suggested. "I suspect your mind won't be on your work anyway until you solve your problem. My schedule seems to be light for the rest of the week anyway, I will probably be able to manage without your assistance."

Yuko laughed. "Yes, I think I can safely leave you alone for an afternoon." She glanced down at the computer monitor and read the new page that had just appeared. Yuko quickly clicked her mouse several times, and then typed furiously for several seconds.

"Well, Hakase, I may have lucked out."

"How so?", O'Shay asked.

"It seems an old hotel is being renovated for both rental and condo housing. I was just able to get myself on the top of the waiting list." She said. "I may have lucked out, it' in a prime location in the historical district."

"Expensive?" the doctor asked.

"That's the good part," Yuko replied. "The quoted rental price is actually less than what my flat is currently costing me. I guess I shouldn't be counting chickens that haven't hatched yet, but I won't sign a lease until I see the place."

* * *

 **Egon's** shoes made a loud noise as he landed hard on the marble floor after sliding down the pole from the upper floor of the former fire house. At the sound of Egon nearly breaking his legs from the hard landing, Peter snapped out of the trance he'd been in, and leaned back far enough to place his center of gravity beyond the vertical. He landed on his back as the chair fell out from under him, nearly crashing into Spengler who manged to leap out of its way just in time.

"I think I've figured it out!", Egon yelled, pounding his right fist into his left palm.

"What have you figured out," Peter asked, "anything earth shattering?"

"You could call it that," Egon replied. "I know why New York has been so un-un-dead lately."

Venkman, brushed himself off, and grabbed for the cup of coffee he'd left on Melnitz's desk. He took one slug of the thick brown liquid, and spat it right out. "COLD!" he voiced.

Ray Stantz waltzed into the office, his jeans and plaid shirt covered with 90 weight oil. "OK Einstein, enlighten us."

"Well it all goes back to what got us into this business in the first place," Egon started.

"You mean Peter getting slimed in the library?" Ray asked.

"Well sort of," Egon answered. "We lucked out in that we had just built all of this equipment when there was this spike in the paranormal energy level, the origin of which was centered on Dana Barrett's apartment building."

"Yes I remember that," Peter said. "Spook Central!"

"So?" Ray asked. "We sent Dozer packing, right back to the other side and we closed up the gate for good, didn't we?"

"No, we only relocated it." Egon answered. "We were were still capturing ghosts for over a year after that encounter."

"Sure," Peter agreed. "The mayor even had a 'bat signal' for us, though I guess technically you'd call it a 'ghost' signal."

"It was only a phone line," Ray said. "It wasn't even a red phone."

"Then what happened, Einstein?", Peter asked.

"New Jersey," Ray added.

"He's right." Egon agreed. "We started getting calls from west of the city. Newark, then Philly, even Pittsburgh."

"So the ghosts moved out of N.Y.," Peter shrugged.

"No, the center of the ectoplasmic energy is shifting," Egon said. "Look, you know how the Earth's magnetic field keeps shifting? The isogonic lines have to be redrawn on navigational charts several times a year because of the shift. Well, something is causing paranormal energy to shift as well. I've been doing some research up in my office on the computer for the past few weeks. I just discovered that Ivo Shandor didn't only head up a cult in the New York area, his group was active in several countries around the world. Barrett's apartment building may not have been the only portal that he built."

"You mean that Gozer might try to come back into our plane of existence from another point?", Ray asked.

"It's not only possible," Egon replied, "but very likely."

"OK, where?" Peter asked.

"I'm not 100% sure yet," Egan replied. "But I've been triangulating using data points of recent reports of major ectoplasmic disturbances."

"And?" Ray asked.

"As best as I can pinpoint with the limited data I was able to come up with," Egon replied, "there seems to be an epicenter somewhere in the Tokyo Japan area."

"Great!," Peter face-palmed.

"Huh?" Ray asked.

"We better get those proton packs beefed up," Peter warned.

"Why?",Ray asked.

"Cause we might end up having to ghost-bag Godzilla!"


	2. Chapter 2

_2._

 **Uran** stood outside the abandoned house and looked up at the broken windows on the second floor. "I don't understand how Coby could say with a straight face that there aren't any ghosts," she thought out loud, "He and Astro both saw Tobio. Guess I'll just have to get proof."

She made her way up the creaky steps and pushed the front door open. The place was even spookier than she had remembered, but with all the broken widows and the hole in the roof letting in the wind and the rain, it made sense that the house would have gathered a fresh coat of grime and mold.

As Uran made her way deeper into the house, she brushed up against a cob web, and a spider dropped down in front of her from the ceiling. "Yuck!" she gasped, quickly backing away. "Anybody here?", she quavered.

Suddenly, a chill ran down her back, as if a cold wind had just blown into the room. Uran's electronic brain was sensitive to the thoughts of animals, and she now wondered if she was also empathic towards ghosts as well. Broken glass crunched under her feet as she made her way to the stairs. Carefully she held onto the rickety banister, as she made her way up to the second floor. The stairs groaned under her weight as Uran carefully tested each tread before putting her full weight on it. Once on the second floor landing she turned towards the bedrooms. The empathic tickle that she'd felt when first entering the house had grown stronger, the buzzing in her head was getting louder with each step.

" _GO AWAY!",_ a voice yelled from inside of her head. _"LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU!"_

Floating in front of her was the upper two thirds of the body of a young boy. The legless apparition was totally gray in color, as if it was a black and white holographic projection. Uran recognized the image as Tobio at once. He seemed helpless and weak just floating there, tears dripping down his face.

"Tobio, is that you?", Uran quavered in a shaky voice.

" _PLEASE GO AWAY!, I WARNED YOU!"_ , the apparition begged.

Uran hesitated, part of her was frozen in terror and wanted to run, but a stronger part of her wanted to communicate with the deceased child that had been the source of inspiration for her brother's creation. She took one tiny step towards the ghost.

Suddenly, Tobio's apparition melted. The face of the innocent cherub morphed into that of a beast with long fangs for teeth, set in a huge snout. A violent roar came from the poltergeist's mouth, followed by a river of a gooey green viscous fluid. Uran tried to turn and flee, but she couldn't move in time. She ran down the steps, falling the last meter as the treads broke under her feet. She emerged from the house drenched in a sticky green goo that covered her entire body. Uran didn't stop running until she was a block and a half away from Tenma's old house.

"Yuck!", she yelled, looking down at herself, "Tobio slimed me!"

* * *

 **Reno** used a spatula to scrape a jarful of the green gunk from Uran's skin and clothing. He then put some of the goo onto a glass slide, and put that under a microscope. Carefully he focused the instrument as he peered into the eyepiece.

"Doesn't seem to be any micro organisms growing in that stuff," he said. "I don't see any nanites either, so you're probably safe."

"Can I shower it off now?" Uran asked.

"Sure, go ahead," Reno said. "Use the bathroom in Tenma's old lounge down the hall."

Astro wandered into the laboratory, just as his sister passed him in the hallway. "What's going on?", he asked, "What happened to Uran?"

"I'm not sure," Reno said, shrugging his shoulders. "Your sister ran in here covered with this crap," he said, holding up a mason jar filled to the brim with a gooey green slim. "She said she went over to Tenma's old house looking for proof about ghosts, she said she wanted to see Tobio's ghost."

"I know Cobalt and I told her we saw Tobio in that house," Astro said, "But we never really thought it was a ghost. Both of us have memories of Tobio, and we just figured that something in that house was interacting with our A.I. to create the illusion of us seeing him."

"Well Uran never did have a physical connection to the real Tobio, so how do you explain her seeing him in that house?", Reno asked.

"Is that what she told you?" Astro asked.

"Hai," Reno nodded. "She also said that his apparition 'vomited' on her. That's what is in this jar."

"Yuck!", Astro voiced. "What is that stuff?"

"Well from what I've read on line, it's ectoplasm," Reno said. "According to a white paper authored by E. Spengler and R. Stantz, this stuff is, quote, 'a supernatural viscous substance that is supposed to exude from the body of a medium or a supernatural being during a spiritualistic trance and forms the material for the manifestation of spirits'".

"So you're saying that Uran actually saw Tobio's ghost, and that said ghost attacked her by vomiting this ectoplasm all over her?", Astro said.

"No, that's what she said," Reno answered, "but so far, I see no reason to doubt her."

* * *

 **The** emperor tossed and turned in bed, not able to sleep. He got out of bed, and walked the halls of the palace rubbing his eyes. There wasn't any reason that he could think of for his insomnia, he hadn't eaten a particularly large or spicy meal before retiring for the night, nor were there any pressing issues of state weighing heavily on his brain. After drinking a tall glass of water, he made his way back to his bedroom. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, staring straight ahead. Hanging in mid air, just in front of him was a vaporous image. The upper torso and head of the Shōwa Emperor blocked his path back to the bedroom. "Otōsan?", he muttered, again rubbing his eyes. As he stared, the spirit moved forward and it's vaporous being passed through him and disappeared. Akihito quickened his pace and made his way back to the bedroom. After several minutes of tossing and turning, he finally did manage to fall back to a troubled sleep.

* * *

 **Dr. O'Shay** sat in the sofa chair, leaning back and reading the 新聞. Sitting on the coffee table, next to his easy chair, sat a thick book containing reprints of classic Manga that he had been reading earlier. He was having difficulty keeping his eyes open, so he put the newspaper down attempted to lift himself out of the chair when a strange feeling came over his entire being. The professor felt a bit light headed when a fog slowly appeared in front of him. Gradually, the fog began to coalesce into an apparition. Floating in front of him was the ghostly figure of an old man dressed in frumpy sweater. The figure had a bulbous nose, and wore thick horn rimmed glasses and a beret cap. The man smiled at the professor, and doffed his cap before fading away the same way he had appeared.

Quickly, O'Shay grabbed the thick Manga collection from the table, and rapidly flipped though it's pages. Suddenly he stopped, and stared at a biographical page, that had a photograph of the very same face that had just floated in front of him.

* * *

 **Yuko Kisaragi** was having a bad dream. She felt hot, as if her body were lying out int the sun on top of a bed of glowing, fiery coals. She was in the middle of a glowing red fog that drifted about her, each step that she took echoed and reverberated as if she were inside of a vast cave. She suddenly seemed to snap out of the trance when a loud, deep voice, bounced around inside of her head. **"** _ZUUL!_ **"**

Her eyes snapped open and for a split second she swore she was floating naked three feet above her bed. An instant later she felt herself fall, landing hard on top of the soft mattress, covered with her sheets and blanket. She looked down at herself, and discovered she was still wearing the nightgown that she had put on before getting into bed. A second later, the alarm clock sounded, and she reached for the button to silence it.

A dream, she thought, breathing heavily to calm herself, it was just a bad dream.

* * *

 **Astro** glanced back and forth between the professor and Yuko. "The two of you don't look so good," he finally said, "I may be a robot, but I can tell when a human being didn't get enough sleep."

"It shows, doesn't it?", the professor sighed. "I fell asleep reading the newspaper in my easy chair during the night, only to wake up seeing a ghost. I hope it was only a bad dream, but I never did fall back to sleep once I got into bed."

"Compared to my night, that was a vacation," Yuko said. "I think I dreamed I was in a hellish place. I woke up covered in sweat when my alarm clock woke me this morning."

Dr. O'Shay had been reading his emails when Astro had walked in. "Yuko, it looks like the two of us weren't the only ones having difficulty sleeping last night. I've got an email from the Emperor. He wants someone from the ministry to discreetly examine the palace for the supernatural. He claims he was haunted by the Shōwa Emperor last night.

"Well, that's four ghost stories in two days," Reno said. The boy roboticist had been quietly standing in the doorway while the three way conversation had been going on.

"Four?" the professor asked.

"If you include Uran," Reno replied. She came into my laboratory yesterday covered with ectoplasm. She told me she'd been ghost hunting in Tenma's old house and got caught by Tobio.

"Ectoplasm?" the professor asked.

"According to Spengler and Stantz, close contact with a free roaming spirit can cause a physical manifestation of psychic energy resulting in the release of spiritual bodily fluids."

"Huh?"

"Ghost vomit," Reno explained. "Hey, if you don't believe me, I've got a pint of the stuff on ice in my laboratory."

The conversation was then interrupted by the ringing of the professors phone. O'Shay picked up the instrument to answer it, "Moshi Moshi, yes hello inspector, what?, you want me to what?, actually I do believe you, yes, I promise we will look into it." He hung up the phone, and looked on his computer screen.

"What the hell is going on?", Astro asked.

"I guess you heard both ends of that, Astro," the professor said. "Well, it seems that the police have had a busy night chasing ghosts too. One of them even stole a police car."

"What?" Reno asked.

"A squad car roared out of the police motor pool at 3 am with no one driving it," O'Shay said. "Except that someone managed to snap this picture on their cell phone."

The professor turned his computer monitor around to show the attachment from Tawashi's email. It clearly showed an ugly green blob of a ghost, behind the wheel of a metro city police car, a big cigar clamped in its mouth.

"Something weird is going on," O'Shay said. "I think we may be a bit out of our league on this one. I don't know who I'm going to have to call for help."

"I think I do," Reno said. He walked up to the doctor's computer, and quickly entered a URL on the browser. ' ghostbusters dot boo' "I ran across these guys yesterday while I was researching ectoplasm. Seems there was a similar rash of spectral problems in New York City a few years back. The Ghostbusters took care of it."

"I guess I'm going to have to contact these guys," the professor said. "but given the time difference, I'll have to wait till 7pm to catch them if they open for business at 9am."

* * *

 **Janine Melnitz** dropped her purse on her desk and turned her computer on. She eyed the clock on the wall, and noticed that she'd managed to arrive a bit early, though she knew she wasn't the only one of the team in the building. Peter Venkman, and Ray Stantz both usually slept in upstairs, in what had been the fire house's bunk room, while Egan Stantz often pulled all nighters that lasted for days doing his research and laboratory work. Judging by the muffled sound of a small explosion coming from the upper rear of the building, that's exactly what he was doing at the very moment.

Just as the minute hand of the clock reached the '12', with the hour hand at '9', the phone started ringing. "Already?", Melnitz swore. She had a slight headache, having been to a boring party the night before, where she might have had a few too many. She picked up the phone and barked, "Ghostbusters, what do you want?"

Dr. O'Shay's command of the English language wasn't at a very comfortable level for him, so he had Astro on the extension as a translator. "I don't think she's had her morning coffee yet, Hakase," the boy robot offered.

In somewhat shaky, but quite understandable English, the professor spoke in a calm voice, "This is Dr. O'Shay with the Japanese Science Ministry. We seem to have a growing supernatural problem here in Tokyo. Can I speak with a member of the Ghostbusting team?"

Despite her mild hangover, Melnitz realized that this might not be the usual morning crank call. "You for real?" she barked.

"Hai!, I mean Yes I am!", the professor stated.

"Hold the line!", Janine voiced dropping the phone and pounding her fist on the intercom.

"Someone get the phone, we have a live one!" she yelled into the box.

 **Ray Stantz** rolled out of bed in his boxer shorts. He managed to find the phone on the night stand, but only succeeded in knocking the instrument to the floor. With the grace of a bull in a china shop, he grabbed the handset and fumbled to get it to his ear, backwards at first. Finally, he sat down on the edge of the bed and put on his best business like voice. "Good Morning Ghostbusters at your service, how can we be of help?"

Dr. O'Shay, listened for Astro's translations as he tried to make himself understood. The boy robot occasionally injected a translation when necessary. "Good evening from Tokyo. Just recently, we've started to have some strange things happen. Please keep what I'm going to tell you confidential, I'm sure our government wouldn't want the news services to pick up on this."

"The Ghostbusters pride themselves on confidentiality," Ray quickly answered, "please continue!"

"Several members of my staff have experienced supernatural manifestations, and the Emperor himself was haunted by the ghost of his father a night ago," the professor replied.

"We can be over there in 48 hours, if you want to hire us," Ray said, "I promise you we will get to the bottom of this!"

"Excellent!", O'Shay answered, "I'll have my assistant contact you to iron out the necessary details."

Ray heard the line go dead on the other end. "My god," he thought, "They didn't even ask about the cost!"


	3. Chapter 3

_3._

 **Ray Stantz** found Egon in his workshop, the parts of one of their proton packs scattered around the workbench. "It seems you were right, as usual, Egon," Ray said, "I just got off the phone with someone from a think tank in Tokyo. Seems they have a growing ghost problem over there."

"How bad is it?", Spengler asked.

"I don't know exactly," Ray offered, "but there seem to be a growing number of sightings and at least one level 5 event involving a stolen police car."

"That's exactly what I was afraid of," Egon dead paned. "We need to pack our gear and get right over there."

"I'll have Melnitz get contracts made up and faxed over to the Japan Ministry of Science, and get our travel booked at once," Ray said, "The three of us should start getting our gear together."

"We'll have to get the proton packs, containment vessels, and traps shipped by registered courier," Egan warned, "we can't check them as baggage on any airline."

"True," Ray sighed, "FAA regulations prohibit the shipment of unlicensed nuclear accelerators on passenger aircraft."

"What about Ecto-1?", Peter Venkman asked, standing in the doorway in his jokey shorts.

"I think we'll have to leave it behind," Ray told him. "It would be too expensive to ship that four ton vehicle, and I'm sure we can rent something suitable in Tokyo."

"It's also very likely that the Science Ministry would have a robotic vehicle that would be suitable for our needs," Egan pointed out.

* * *

 **Dr. O'Shay** and Inspector Tawashi were waiting at the arrival gate at Tokyo international airport to meet the Ghostbusters when they arrived. Both Astro and Reno were also present, the former to help with any interpreting duties, and the later for technical advice.

"Who are these guys?" Tawashi asked the professor, "and where did you dig them up?"

"They're experts in paranormal phenomena," Reno interjected.

"It was Reno who found their resumes on the web," the professor added, "and they come highly recommended by officials in New York City."

Tawashi just grunted. "Well I suppose we don't seem to have much choice in the matter. My best officers are clueless on how to proceed, and the Ministry isn't much better."

"Looks like their plane has landed, Hakase," Astro said, pointing to the message board.

The 14 hour long non-stop flight from JFK had taken its toll on Venkman, who hadn't managed to get any shuteye on the plane. On the other hand, both Spengler and Stantz were reasonably well rested as both had made good use of the quiet periods of the flight where the crew had darkened the cabin for the benefit of the passengers. The Ghostbusters made their through the gangway, each of them lugging a wheeled carry on bag. It was Ray who spotted the professor first, "Kon'nichiwa, O'Shay Hakase, Watashi wa Stantz Ray desu," he said, introducing himself, somewhat unsure of his Japanese.

"Pleased to meet you, we're glad you're here," the professor answered in rehearsed English, "I'm Dr. O'Shay, and this is police inspector Tawashi. Your gear has already arrived, and my department has greased the right palms to get the stuff though customs as quickly as possible."

"We're glad to hear that," Egan said. "We could use a few hours to get unpacked and settled into our hotel, and I think at least one of us might need some shuteye."

Peter Venkman rubbed his eyes, "I resemble that remark," he voiced.

"I've arranged a police escort for you to your hotel," the inspector said. "Your transportation is waiting just outside the terminal."

"The Ministry has arranged for your hotel stay," O'Shay added, "We have you in a comfortable inn just a few blocks from our HQ."

"What about the equipment needs we asked about," Egan queried.

"I've ordered one of our vehicle garages to be emptied out," the professor explained, "you can set up shop in there. We also have a robotic vehicle at your disposal."

* * *

 **Several** hours later, Venkman, Spengler and Stantz walked into the cavernous space of the ministry's number two drone hangar. "This is a garage?" Venkman gasped, "it looks more like NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building!"

"I'm sure it's not quite as large," O'Shay replied, "but it is the largest open space we had available." He pointed to an olive drab three axled vehicle that sat on six huge tires. "This robotic vehicle should be large enough to haul your equipment around, and we have a second one in reserve if you need it."

"Wow!", Stantz gasped, "This is like a Humvee on steroids!"

"I'll take that as a complement," the vehicle purred.

"It speaks?", Ray gasped.

"I'm a robotic vehicle," the truck replied, "You can call me Sarge, I'll do the driving for you, I know this city like the back of my hand, so to speak. Astro has already told me all about you."

"Excellent," Spengler said, "That's one detail that was bugging me, now solved."

Reno directed the three Ghostbusters to the rear corner of the room where several large metal crates had been stacked. "Here is a workshop area. As you can see, your equipment has arrived from the airport safely."

Venkman quickly unlocked the first of the well padded shipping containers and opened it. He extracted the first of the proton packs and set it on a workbench to examine it.

"Looks perfect," he said as he extracted a power cord and plugged the cable into an outlet on the work bench. "We'll need to top off the charge in the batteries. Good thing I thought to adjust the power supplies for the slightly lower line voltage."

As Peter and Egan unpacked the rest of the equipment, Ray was getting antiquated with the robot truck. They were quickly on a first name basis, and were even exchanging dirty jokes.

* * *

 **Reno** stood by the workbench and carefully picked up one of the proton packs. "Careful kid, those things aren't toys!" Ray said, grabbing the unit from Reno.

"I was just examining it," the boy roboticist replied. "Just curious how it works. I've read all of the white papers you and Mr. Spengler published on the internet."

"Well in that case," Stantz said, "Let me explain the operation of this little gizmo." He started to point out the various systems inside of the famous anti-ghost device. "This equipment uses a nuclear accelerator to generate a high level plasma like field that interacts with ectoplasmic paranormal beings, allowing us to trap and contain them inside of a portable multi-dimensional containment field."

Reno pointed to the large circular housing on the device, "That's a miniaturized synchrotron, isn't it?", he asked, "and it's powered by a high frequency inverter using a multistage voltage multiplying circuit, and deep discharge lithium trioxide batteries."

Stantz suddenly realized that he was being out-geeked, "You'd better ask Egan about those details," he muttered. "Here, let me give you a quick demonstration."

Ray slipped the straps of the backpack like device over Reno's head and adjusted the straps. He then armed the main power switch, and the pack made a soft 'click' sound as the power relay contacts engaged. "OK, you've got your proton pack fully charged and ready for action. It's in standby mode, and inert until you release the safety switch on the rifle end."

Reno reached behind his back and felt for the handle grip on the neutralizer gun. He pulled the rifle like business end of the pack out of its holster and examined it. Ray pointed to the safety switch. "When you come up against a spectral being you release the catch, and then throw that switch to arm the device," he explained.

Reno pressed down on the heavy spring loaded safety catch, with one hand and pushed the equally heavily spring loaded power switch to the on position. The synchrotron on his back made a deep guttural groan as a massive relay closed, followed by a turbine like oscillation like a supercharged diesel locomotive spooling up.

"Now all you have to do is aim and pull the trigger," Ray explained. "There is a slight recoil, this is like a cross between a particle beam weapon, and a pumped laser. Try shooting at that practice target I've set up over there." Ray was pointing to a large box about the size of a phone booth. It was covered with a plastic mesh like material, and filled with large metallic foam beads. There was a bull's eye painted on the outside mesh over the glyph of a ghost caricature. "Energy absorbing material inside of a Gaussian containment," he explained, "At least that's how Egan explained it to me."

Reno closed one eye and sighted along the barrel of the gun with the other. He squinted hard and pulled the trigger, just as Astro walked into the building a few feet from the target box. The boy wasn't quite prepared for the jolt. The proton gun emitted a blazing white hot jagged beam of energy, with a roar that threatened to deafen him. The rifle barrel vibrated like a jackhammer, making whatever recoil it did have a thousand times more uncontrollable Reno felt his hands jerked sideways by the weapon's report. He tried to release the trigger, but the weapon still fired wildly for at least a second and a half.

Part of the beam caught Astro full in the chest. He was thrown backwards, and landed several yards outside of the hangar's doors.

Reno quickly dropped the rifle, and opened the belt straps, letting the proton backpack fall off to bounce on the floor. He ran towards the fallen boy robot. "Gomen'nasai, Sumimasen!", He yelled.

Astro opened his eyes and looked up at his buddy, then slowly sat up. "What the hell was that?" he voiced.

Egan Spengler and Peter Venkman ran out of the back of the truck as soon as they'd heard the fire from the proton pack. "What the hell is the matter with you, Ray?", Egan yelled. "Why'd you let the kid near that?"

"He seemed to understand the principle of operation," Ray stammered, "he read our white papers."

"Well none of us faired any better the first time we tried using the proton rifles," Peter injected, "and Ray and I both know how to handle a shotgun rifle loaded with deer slugs!"

"Hey, you guys!", Astro cried out, "I'm OK, really!" He got to his feet with a little help from Reno, and blew a few puffs of black smoke out of his nose and ears.

Ray walked back and picked the abandoned proton pack up from the floor. He re-engaged the safety switch and powered down the backpack. "OK, that's enough demonstration for today," he dead panned.

 **Dr. O'Shay** and Inspector Tawashi walked into the hangar. The professor noticed the burn marks on the floor, and on the tarmac just outside the hangar. "You guys have an accident?" he asked.

"It was my bad," Reno spoke up. "Ray was showing me how the proton rifle works, and it sorta got away from me."

"You can say that again," Astro face palmed. "I don't know if a ghost can feel pain, but I'm sure they don't enjoy being zapped by that thing!"

"You guys ready for action?", the inspector asked. "I hope so, because I just got a call from the Metro Hilton hotel. They called the police to investigate a disturbance in the Onsen baths that sounds like a job for these ghost catchers."

" **You** mean _Ghostbusters,_ " Venkman corrected the inspector. "OK guys, let's get our gear loaded into Sarge and go incarcerate some ghosts!" Peter grabbed two of the proton packs and walked around to the back of the robotic truck. He was about to grab for the lift gate handle with his foot when it opened by itself. "Allow me!" Sarge told him.

"Thank's," Peter replied.

Egan grabbed two more of the backpacks, while Ray carried a half dozen of the traps over to the truck.

"Can we come along too?" Reno asked, standing next to Astro.

"Do you think that's wise?" Egan asked. "They might get in the way."

"You realize that we're strangers here," Ray pointed out, "It might be a good idea to have someone with us that knows the local customs and such. Besides, Astro is a robot, and probably immune to ghosts."

"Good point," Peter said motioning to Reno and Astro, "OK you two, each of you go grab yourselves a uniform from the rack over there and suit up."

Astro and Reno each quickly slipped into a pair of Ghostbuster overalls. For some reason, the team had brought extras in various sizes. Venkman saw the question in Reno's face about that and replied, "We got a good deal on our duds from a surplus outlet, but we had to take the entire lot, Ray had this idea we could sell the smaller sizes on line as kids Halloween costumes, so we had them all silk screened with our logo. When we get back from this job, you can get yours outfitted with name tags."

Reno had already grabbed a black wide tipped sharpie and had written his name on his overall bib, and then did Astro's.

"Oh, never mind, I guess." Ray laughed, seeing 'Reno' and 'Atom' written in black letters on the uniforms of his new recruits.

Ray jumped into the drivers seat, with Peter riding shotgun. Egan was already seated behind Ray, and Reno climbed in next to him. Astro sat in the rear, sandwiched inbetween two piles of proton back packs.

"So where are we going?", Ray asked, but before he could even grab at the driver's controls the truck burned rubber and peeled out of the hanger. "I've got it!", Sarge told him, "Just put your tray tables and seat backs in up in their locked positions and keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times!"

"Holy crap, Sarge!", Peter cried out as the acceleration slammed him hard against the seat back, "You drive more crazily than Ray!"

"Don't worry about a thing," the robot truck assured him, "I've never been in an accident, and my reflexes are at least 100 times faster than any humans. Besides the inspector insisted that we get there in a hurry!"

They careened around a sharp turn on three wheels, and roared down a narrow side street, missing parked cars on either side of them by mere millimeters. Then they made and even sharper turn in the opposite direction into the hotel's basement parking garage and parked right in front of the elevator entrance.

"I told you I'd get you here in one piece safe and sound!", Sarge boasted proudly, as he opened the doors and the rear lift gate.

"Right!", Egan voiced, "Arigatōgozaimashita, Sarge San."

"OK, everyone," Peter announced, "Let's get our stuff and get busy."

The ghostbusters donned their Proton backpacks, and night vision goggles. Each of them also clipped a portable trap to their utility belts. The group then boarded the elevator to the main floor.

The hotel manager ran for the elevator when he saw the door open, with the five unusually dressed people inside of it. "Thank god you're finally here," he spoke in a low voice, pointing towards a long hallway. "The Onsen is that way, at the end of the corridor and to the left. I don't suppose you could undress before entering, no, I guess you'd probably need your equipment."

"We'll be as careful as possible not to upset anything," Egan tried to promise.

"Maybe, I should enter first," Astro suggested, stripping down to his briefs. "I'll help any patrons still in the baths get to the locker rooms before you guys enter."

"Good idea," Ray said.

The hotel onsen was divided into separate sections for each gender. Astro turned his ears up to 1000x power and he could make out the muffled screams and moans coming from the women's side of the facility. He carefully entered the area where the cries were coming from, in the room where the large pool of heated water was located. Several women were huddled together, too scared to move in a corner of the hot bath. Floating above the steaming hot water on the other side of the pool, an ugly green vaporous apparition seemed to be grinning. One of the women quickly grabbed her towel to cover her breasts when Astro walked in, but another became more secure at the site of the boy robot. "That's Astro Boy the robot," she whispered to her companions, "He's here to save us!"

"Just follow me to the exit," Astro told them, "I'll shield you from that ghost." As he led the four remaining bath patrons to the locker room, Astro held a walkie talkie to his mouth and clicked the push to talk button. "The bath area is clear, you guys can come in now and zap him!"

Ray was the first to enter the bath area, followed by Egan, Peter, and Reno. Hovering just millimeters above the surface of the water, next to to outpouring of a waterfall of the naturally heated flow of near boiling hot water from the ground beneath the hotel, the misshapen glowing figure with a huge toothless grin, stared at them.

"Let's bag this one quickly," Peter suggested, aiming his proton rifle at the ghost.

"Careful, Venkman!", Egan started to say a second before Peter pulled the trigger.

At that instant the ghost dove beneath the surface of the water. The energy beam from the rifle hit the water just above the intended target, and bounced upward striking the ceiling causing an explosion that filled the air with ceramic tile shrapnel and left a huge singe mark in the plaster.

"I was afraid of that!", Egan yelled. "Our proton beams can't penetrate through water. We'll have to lure him out of the pool!"

"I'll take care of that!," Astro replied, "Just don't shoot at me in the pool!" He dived into the sauna like water and illuminated his eye search lamps. He swam towards the ghost, and then shot two digibeam lasers from his index fingers. The poltergeist leaped away from him, towards the ceiling of the room.

"There he is!", Venkman shouted taking aim. Spengler and Stanz followed suit, and the three of them pulled their triggers at the same instant. The spectral being was surround by the convergence of the three proton beams, fighting to break free. The ghostbusters gradually reeled him in, as they adjusted the power of their beams. Reno quickly unclipped a trap from Ray's utility belt and placed it on the ground a few feet away from the edge of the pool. Venkman nodded at what the boy had done, and took a step back, his beam pulling the ghost towards the trap. He waited until their victim was hovering just inches above the silver and yellow box, and then yelled, "OK stomp on it!"

Reno slammed his left right foot on the trigger at the end of the 15 foot cable attached to the trap. The devices doors opened up, and a bright ionized magnetic field filled the air above it, encircling the ghost. At the same instant the ghostbusters released the triggers on their rifles, shutting down the containment beams. Reno then stepped off the trigger switch and the trap snapped shut with a thud. It emitted a few sparks, and their prey was gone.

"Good work, Kid!", Peter cried, "we got him. He's in the trap!"

Astro surfaced from under the steaming water and climbed out of the pool. Reno handed him his jump suit and he quickly dressed.

"Let's get back to our temporary HQ before they can assess the damage here," Ray suggested.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

 **Yuko Kisaragi** slowly opened the door to her apartment. Peter Venkman gently pushed her aside, "I'll enter first and look around," he said, "I've seen this kind of stuff before."

Venkman held the custom built PKE meter up at arms length and watched the LEDs on the two horizontal pivoted arms. Except for a slow ticking sound the meter was quiet. In his other hand he held the squeeze bulb of the ecto sniffer. About once every other second he made a puffing sound with the device as he pumped air into the long sensing tube at the end of the hand held rod attached to the bulb. Other than the air sound, the sniffer was quiet, detecting nothing abnormal.

"This is Deja-vu all over again," Peter voiced. "I can almost feel the presence of something, even though my equipment is detecting nothing."

Yuko entered the apartment and looked around. It felt tranquil at the moment, but she was still uneasy after that night in the place. "I haven't been back here in two days," she told Venkman. "I spent the last few nights in a capsule hotel. Are you sure you're not getting any readings? Why don't you take a look in the refrigerator?"

Venkman grabbed at the handle to the 'fridge and yanked it open. Except for a half full cardboard crate of eggs, a container of milk, and several of yogurt, the inside of the appliance was empty.

"There's nothing here," Venkman said, visions of Dana Barrett's apartment popping up in his head.

"Do you think it's safe for me to sleep here?" Yuko asked.

"Probably," Peter replied, "But maybe I should stay with you just in case, you know to stand guard."

Yuko laughed, "No thanks, I've heard about your womanizing!"

"You don't have to worry, I'll sleep on the sofa in the living room," Venkman quickly replied.

"That's OK, Venkman San," Yuko said, patting him on the back, "I'll get someone else to spend the night and keep guard. Someone who won't fall asleep."

* * *

 **Egan** stood in front of a large cork board hung on the wall of the hangar. Attached to it was a detailed map of Metro City and Tokyo, with a number of push pins with colored heads inserted. "What's this for?", Inspector Tawashi asked as he and Dr. O'Shay entered the building, followed by Reno, Astro, and Cobalt.

"I'm marking out all the reported phantasm sightings," Spengler replied. "The blue colored pins are the locations of eye witness sightings. Those in red are were an actual interaction between a ghost and a person can be verified."

"Like someone getting slimed," Ray added, walking over from the other side of the floor.

"The black push pins are the locations where we have been able to capture a supernatural being," Egan continued. "By the way, most of our traps are now full, has anything been done yet on our request for the materials to build that high voltage laser containment storage facility?"

"I just came from our machine shop," the professor replied. "Atlas told me he'll have all of the critical components built by early this afternoon. It should be transported here before the end of the day. The power connections are already installed, and the extra Magnimite line is being made ready at the power station right now."

Egan picked up a roll of thread and began to connect the pins together, forming a spiderweb grid on the map. He looked under the intersection of a bunch of the threads at the map, and asked, "Did you get me the blueprints I asked for, Hakase?"

"Sumimasen, how forgetful of me," the professor replied, handing Egan a large cardboard tube. "Here they are!"

Egan quickly uncapped the container and pulled out the rolled up papers. He laid them flat on a large drafting table, weighing down the corners with several heavy tools. "I was afraid of this," he sighed.

The professor and the inspector walked closer to look at the blueprints. "What's wrong," O'Shay asked.

"These are the blueprints for the prewar tower in the hotel district I asked for?" Egan queried.

"Yes, they are," O'Shay replied. "They were a bit hard to find because they had never been converted to digital. We're lucky that a set had been discovered in a basement storage room of that building during the American occupation and a copy was made by Americans."

"This building has many of the features of one that was built on Central Park West in NYC," Egan explained. The engineer was an Ivo Shandor, who was the leader of a cult of Gozer worshipers."

"What is this Gozer," Tawashi asked.

"He was an ancient Sumerian god of destruction," Spengler answered. "Now as to these blueprints, what stands out is the construction of the roof cap and the upper floors. Here we find cold riveted girders with cores of pure selenium. The entire top of the building is designed to function as a super conductive antenna tuned to pull in psycho kinetic energy. The construction is not unlike some designs that NASA uses to track dead pulsars in deep space. We've run into this Gozer before, and we barely survived his bringing down the traveling destructor, in the form of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man. A similarly constructed building in NYC had acted as a wormhole gate that created a bridge between our dimension, and one in the underworld. We had to take the risk of crossing the streams of our proton beams to force him back across the void and close up the rift."

"Wait, isn't that Yuko's apartment building," Cobalt asked, looking at the map.

"Why yes it is!", the professor gasped. "That explains why Yuko had asked me if I could assign a robot guard for her, she was a bit nervous about going back to her apartment to spend the night, but she was tired of those capsule hotels as well."

"I'll stay with her, Hakase," Cobalt volunteered.

"Why thank you, Coby!," the professor said. "I'm sure that will make Yuko feel much better."

* * *

 **Cobalt** slowly pushed the door to the apartment open, while holding the PKE meter at arm's length. "Venkman explained to me how to operate this thing," he told Yuko, "so why don't you wait outside until I've checked the entire apartment."

"Check the 'fridge too, Coby," Yuko said.

"Hai," Cobalt nodded, as he walked inside. He scanned about with the PKE meter, holding it like it was a Geiger counter. The device made a soft continuous clicking sound, but as far as Cobalt could tell, it was only giving a background reading. He pulled the door to the refrigerator open, and removed a container of very sour milk. Other than the spoiled cow juice, the appliance contained nothing threatening. Next he walked into the bedroom. The queen sized poster bed's sheets were pulled loose and sat in the middle of the bed rolled up into a ball, but other than need to be made up, it too was normal. Kobaruto waved the PKE meter under the bed, but still only got the background reading. There were no monsters hiding under there.

"It looks safe in here to me," he yelled.

Yuko slowly padded into the flat. "Arigatōgozaimashita, Kobaruto Kun," she said. "Looks like I'll have to tidy up a bit before I can sleep here."

"I'll help," Cobalt replied.

The two of them quickly filled several 10 gallon trash bags with spoiled food, after Yuko restocked the refrigerator with some items that she'd brought over in a cooler chest. Cobalt vacuumed the carpet in the bedroom and swept the kitchen floor, while Yuko put clean sheets on her bed. A few squirts of Febreze put the finishing touches on their job.

"Boy, I could sure use a hot drink to relax me," Yuko sighed.

Cobalt spotted a metal tin labeled 緑茶 in the pantry, and put a 300ml pyrex measuring cup filled with water in the microwave. He dropped a single teabag in a mug, and poured the boiling water into it.

"I made you some ryokucha," he said, handing the mug to Yuko.

She grabbed the mug by the handle and took a sip of the green liquid. "Arigatōgozaimashita," she sighed, "I needed that."

After rinsing the empty mug in the sink, and putting it into the dishwasher, Yuko walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She undressed, and put on her nightgown. "I'm going to turn in now, Kobaruto Kun," she said. "You can sleep on the sofa in the living room."

"Leave your door open, Yuko Chan," Cobalt told her. "I'll keep one eye open all night, just in case!"

* * *

 **Atlas** made a gentle vertical descent in front of the hangar's lift gate door. Like the mythological god he was named for, he carried a huge object on his shoulders which he deposited on the hangar floor with a resounding thud. Venkman turned around quickly when he heard the noise.

"Hey, Egan, Ray!", he yelled, "the containment device is here!"

"You know you could thank me," Atlas huffed, "Me and the entire robot machine shop crew worked our asses off for two days straight getting this thing built to your ludicrously insane specifications!"

" Arigatōgozaimashita," Spengler replied, running towards Atlas, and quickly inspecting the finished product. He examined the welds under an eye loupe, and ran his fingers over the painted surface. "The workmanship is perfect, I've never seen such quality construction in my life."

Atlas glared at Astro, "Well, I'm glad somebody appreciates my hard work."

"Can you please give us a hand moving this closer to the power panel on that wall?", Ray asked, pointing. "Or should I look for a forklift?"

"Well since you used the magic word," Atlas grinned, "I'll do it." The red and blue robot grabbed the heavy steel box, and lifting it over his head, set it down in the space that had already been marked out for it by a painted outline on the floor. He then connected the power cables, as indicated on the schematics attached to the device, and the panel.

"My god, you're strong," Venkman gasped, "That thing weighs several tons!"

"Child's play," Atlas boasted. "Well thanks to you my normal workload schedule has been shot to hell. I have no time to chat with you guys, and I need to get back to my usual grind before things get even more backed up. Have fun with your new toy!" With that he rocketed out of the building and flew away.

Ray pointed to the pile of traps lying in a heap in a corner of the building, their red warning lights blinking. "We need to empty those traps before they melt down, will somebody give me a hand?"

The three ghostbusters each grabbed two traps, one in each hand and carried them over to the containment device. Egan powered up the high voltage laser containment vessel and waited for the green ready light indication before opening the access door and shoving one of the traps inside. He closed the door, and threw the large transfer switch to open the field. The device made a loud electrical whine for several seconds while the status light glowed yellow. The noise then dissipated and the light turned green. Ray pulled the handle on the access door and removed the trap, which was no longer blinking red. "Trap is empty, but needs to be recharged," he announced, tossing it onto the workbench.

One by one the traps were emptied, Astro and Reno also joined in the bucket brigade, carrying loaded traps over to the storage device to be emptied.

"Well that's all two dozen of them," Venkman announced, as he plugged the last trap into the recharging rack. "We're ready for action."

* * *

 **Dr. O'Shay** got in early to find Yuko already at her desk, happily humming to herself. "You seem to be in a good mood," he said.

"First good night of sleep I've had in nearly a week," she replied. "With Cobalt keeping guard, I slept like a baby."

"I'll have to ask him how his night went," the professor laughed, as Astro entered the room.

"Heard you coming," O'Shay said looking up.

"I know, my boots squeak," Astro laughed.

"I hope things were quiet last night for the Ghostbusters," the professor said, looking at his computer screen. "Oh dear, there seems to be an email from inspector Tawashi. He attached some items form the police blotter. Seems there were three incidents at onsens, two in a capsule hotel, and a spectral streaker in the subway."

"I know," Astro sighed. "I spent the night in the hanger, though I didn't go out with the guys."

"You need some down time?",O'Shay asked.

"I'll go check and see if Reno is in and can give me a hot oil bath and an ultrasonic degunking," Astro answered on his way out.

 **'** _ **Bleeep Bleeep**_ _'_ , O'Shay's video phone trilled. He pressed the answer button to see Egan Spengler's tired face on the monitor. "Can you see me, Hakase?"

"Hai," the professor answered, "I think you got our video phone system figured out."

"Good," Ray answered. "Is Yuko Chan back in her apartment?"

"She slept there last night with Cobalt guarding her. Seems she had a quiet night."

"That's good," Egan replied. "I've been keeping track of the number and location of our calls. It seems we get most of them after sundown, but we did have two at high noon earlier in the week. Most of them have been in a 10 mile radius of Yuko's apartment building, though in the last 48 hours that circle has been growing smaller. If Yuko is going to remain in her apartment, and I really think she should move out until we get things more under control, I'll want Cobalt to maintain a constant monitor on PKE background readings during the night and get her the hell out of there if he notices any sudden increase in those readings Something is brewing, and I expect it to reach a crescendo anytime now."

As soon as he hung up with Egan, the phone trilled again, this time it was the police inspector calling. "You get my email, O'Shay?", Tawashi asked.

"Hai, I just read it," the professor replied.

"Things seem to be getting worse, not better," the inspector barked.

"I know," O'Shay voiced. "I just got off the phone with Egan Spengler. The ghostbusters think things are going to get worse, before they get a handle on it."

* * *

 **Back** at the hanger, the boys had set up some surplus army cots with futons as mattresses, and had zonked out. The lights in the huge room had been turned down, and except for the sound of snoring, the building was quiet. The intercom link to the police remained silent all day, and they actually got a good eight hours of shuteye. Peter Venkman was the first to stir, his stomach growling from hunger. He walked towards the closed overhead doors and looked out through the window slits, noticing that it was now twilight. "Hey you guys, anybody up?", he asked. "Seems we've slept all day."

Ray Stantz opened one eye, "Wow, it's been quiet all day," he announced.

Egan Spengler got his feet on the floor and made his way over to the computer screen. "Nothing odd has been reported on the police blotter either," he said, bringing up the status monitor for the containment vessel. "The level of psychic energy has remained constant," he announced, "Something's wrong. We've been having a build up of PKE readings at an increasing rate over the last few days, why has it leveled off?"

"Maybe 'cause we've got the ring leaders trapped in there," Peter said, pointing at the large red chamber near the wall.

"I don't think so," Egan said I a worried voice. "Something's going to happen, and soon, If it remains quiet tonight, I'll really be scared."

* * *

 **Yuko Kisaragi** shut down her computer and organized her desk. "I'll see you tomorrow, Hakase," she said.

"Goodnight," the professor replied, reaching for the intercom button. "But don't leave just yet, I want to make sure that Cobalt accompanies your again tonight."

Kobaruto peeked into the office, "I'm here, Hakase." he announced.

"Very well," Yuko laughed. "Coming home with me, Coby?"

"Hai," the lanky robot said, "'night Hakase!"


	5. Chapter 5

_5._

" **Sumimasen** Menyuu o onegaishimasu," Egan yelled across the room, waving his hand.

A pretty young woman waved back, and hurried over, "Hai!", she answered, dropping a large folded leaflet in front of each of the Ghostbusters seated at the circular table in the middle of the restaurant.

"Mizo, o onegaishimasu," Egan asked, holding up an empty glass.

"Hai, shou omachi kudasai," the waitress replied as she walked back to the kitchen. She returned a minute later holding a pitcher of ice water, and filled each of the glasses on the table.

"Doumo," Egan replied, still running his finger up and down the menu.

"Can you understand any of this?", Peter asked, pointing to the menu.

"Some," Spengler replied. "I'm not very good with Kanji, but fortunately most of the important things are duplicated in kana, which I can read."

"When did you learn Japanese?", Ray asked.

"I taught myself just enough to read Manga at a 6th grade level," Egan replied.

"Let me guess," Peter dead panned, "Pokemon."

"Sailor Moon, Actually" Spengler replied.

With Egan's help, the three of them managed to order dinner. Stantz and Spengler managed to master the chopsticks, but Egan had to ask the waitress for a fork for Venkman. An hour later, after a leisurely dinner, they left the restaurant and walked back to where the truck was parked.

"Thanks for the recommendation, Sarge," Ray said. "That was an excellent restaurant."

"I told you I know this town," the robot truck replied. "Now should I take you back to your hotel, or the hangar?" Egan hesitated before getting back in the truck. He looked skywards toward center of the city. "Look, you see the light against the sky?", he asked, pointing to the top of a tall building.

"Oh no," Peter replied, "Looks like deja-vu all over again".

"I'm afraid so," Ray sighed. "I think we'd better go back to the hangar, just in case. We might be needed tonight."

Yuko's apartment was in the corner of the building on the topmost occupied floor. Above her apartment the building narrowed, and the top two floors contained utility rooms for air conditioner compressors, elevator host motors, electrical junction boxes, and water tanks. Along the tops of the facades surrounding the outside of the building were several grotesque statues. These gargoyles faced inward, and looked up towards the top of the building, where a chromed spire pointed upward at the sky from the tip of the roof. Lighting flashed between the clouds directly overhead, and the eyes of the concrete beasts glowed red.

* * *

 **Yuko** tested the temperature of her bath water with her elbow. It was just a bit on the cold side, so she turned up the temperature control. Cobalt was sitting in front of the television set in the recliner chair. "Are you getting ready for bed, Yuko Chan?", he asked.

"Hai," Kobaruto," she replied, "I'm getting my bath water ready, I'm going to shower and then soak for awhile."

"OK," the lanky robot replied, "Just holler if you need me!".

Yuko undressed in her room and then wrapped a towel around herself to walk into the bathroom. She knew she shouldn't feel uncomfortable appearing naked in front of Cobalt, he was, after all a robot, and couldn't feel lustful towards her. He was really like an innocent child and a knight in shinning armor rolled into one, just as Astro was. But his image was so perfectly human looking, and she was used to covering herself up with the towel anyway.

Once inside the bathroom she latched the door by force of habit, something she knew she didn't need to do, and maybe under the circumstances was a bad idea. With the bath water now at a comfortable temperature, Yuko hung up her towel and turned on the shower. She quickly lathered herself up, and rinsed off, twice, before lowering herself into the tub. The warm water felt good, and she lay back, leaning against the wall. Not quite as good as being at an onsen, she thought, but almost.

Cobalt heard the shower water run for a few minutes, followed by the splash of the tub water. Suddenly, a loud crash came from the kitchen. He got up out of the recliner chair and ran quickly towards the sound. The door of the refrigerator slammed open, and a voice growled "ZUUL!" as what looked like a cross between a bear and a bull ran towards him. Cobalt felt himself crashing through the apartment wall, and he was then thrown through the closed elevator doors in the hallway. He fell down the shaft, and was then knocked silly by the sudden stop at the bottom. Cobalt quickly came to his senses and pushed the doors open on the ground floor and climbed out, only to be chased out of the building by the monster that had tackled him upstairs in Yuko's apartment.

Yuko noticed that the bath water had seemed to have gotten warmer. She leaned over to turn down the temperature control, but the knob appeared to be stuck. Suddenly the water around her began to bubble and glow red. She jumped from the tub and tried to open the bathroom door, but the latch was stuck. A loud grow came from the tub, as a dark hairy beast with horns emerged from under the bath water and charged at her. She pounded on the door, trying to open it to no avail. She could smell the stench of the beast's hot breath on her face as she fainted and passed out.

* * *

 **Police** inspector Tawashi was sitting in his police car across the street from Yuko's apartment building, right in front of the glass walled dining area of a popular steak house. He'd called in for takeout, and was waiting for a text message on his cell phone informing him that the order was ready to be picked up. Suddenly a familiar figure dashed past the front of his car, followed by what looked like a savage beast. Kobaruto smashed through the glass door, creating a cloud of shards, the wild animal chasing him made an equally large hole in the wall right next to the door. The inspector quickly grabbed the police radio microphone hanging on the dashboard, and yelled into it his location and a description of the emergency, before charging into the melee.

* * *

 **The** four concrete gargoyles surrounding the central structure on the roof of the building glowed fire red as their rock like skin crumbled away, revealing their inner beast. The hideous creatures dismounted from their concrete pedestals and made their way towards a large doorway in the central structure. There they waited, in anticipation of their master's appearance.

* * *

 **Dazed** and confused, Yuko slipped into a loose, revealing dress from the back of her closet. Her hair blew loose in the breeze as she exited from the front door of the apartment building and wandered towards the lights of the downtown area of the city. With a mindless expression on her face, she looked about the crowd of people out for the nightlife, looking for the special being. Standing in front of a shop selling popular manga, stood a number of fans, dressed in cosplay. Yuko's eyes lite up and she approached them. "Is one among you the keymaster?" she asked.

 **Cobalt** picked himself up from the floor and dusted himself off. He made his way through the crowd of people that were running away from the beast that had decimated the dining area under the glass roof. He then bumped into the inspector, looked into his face, and asked, "Are you the gate keeper?"

* * *

 **Ray** Stantz jumped quickly when the red phone that had been installed in the hangar trilled loudly. "Moshi Moshi", he got out, and then heard the inspector's voice. "Right," he replied, as the sound of Tawashi's police siren grew louder.

Cobalt was led, handcuffed to the inspector, into the hangar. Tawashi then sat him down in an available chair. "I found him dazed and discombobulated in the wreckage of a restaurant after he and a cougar or a bear ran amuck through the place," he said, "What do you guys make of this?"

Egan held a PKE meter in front of Cobalt and watched as the LED's mounted on the motorized arms scanned up and down, blinking madly. "Where did this happen," he asked the inspector.

"Right in front of that old landmark building they just converted into apartment housing," Tawashi said.

"That's Yuko Kisaragi's place," Peter yelled out.

Looking droopy, Cobalt reached towards Egan, and pulled a pen from his shirt pocket protector, and took a bite out of it. "Are you the gate keeper?" he asked.

"This is incredibly bad," Egan voiced. "If he thinks he's the keyman, and is looking for the gate keeper,"

"Then Yuko's in danger!", Peter completed his sentence. "We've got to get over there in a hurry!"

"Yo, Sarge!", Ray yelled. "Power up, we've got to get a move on!"

The ghostbusters quickly loaded up the truck and jumped on board.

"Wait you guys, what the hell should I do with Cobalt?", Tawashi asked.

"Keep an eye on him!", Egan yelled through Sarge's rear window, "Don't let him out of your sight!"

The robotic truck roared into life, and hauled ass out of the building.

Tawashi watched the truck turn the corner on three wheels as it speed away. In the distance he saw a huge bolt of lighting come down from the sky, striking the top of the very building that he'd just come from. The inspector turned to where Cobalt had been sitting, and his jaw almost fell to the floor. A moment ago, he'd had the lanky robot handcuffed to himself, but now that end of the manacle was locked to the chair he'd left the android sitting in. "Oh crap," he sighed.

* * *

 **Cobalt** jogged away from the ministry, heading in the direction that Sarge had taken. He followed behind the robotic truck, his glassed over eyes seeing the world in a spectrum of colors shifted towards the blue.

Yuko wandered the streets in a large circle surrounding the apartment building, with only one thought in her mind, she must find the keymaster. A block from where she had started her aimless wandering, she spotted Kobaruto. "Are you the keymaster?" she asked him.

"Hai!, are you the gatekeeper?", Cobalt replied.

* * *

 **Sarge** roared through the streets taking every shortcut he knew. At one busy intersection, he blew his horns loudly, as he took a sharp turn over the sidewalk, parting the throng of pedestrians like Moses did the Reed Sea. The robotic truck took the final turn on three wheels and jolted it's passengers as it screeched to a rapid stop in front of a tall building.

Ray Stantz was the first of the ghostbusters to emerge from the truck. He ran around towards the back and pulled the rack containing the proton backpacks towards him, and quickly strapped on of them one. He was immediately joined by Peter and Egan. The three of them looked upwards towards the roof line of the building, at the spectral light show that illuminated the sky above.

Suddenly the ground shook, as seismic warning sirens sounded. The ground shook as several large pieces of concrete fell from the roof of the building, and crashed down on the street. The asphalt cracked and a large sinkhole opened up underneath where Sarge had parked. The robotic truck started to fall into the hole in the street, and the three ghostbusters also lost their footing and tumbled down into the opening. Sarge quickly fired a rocket driven grappling hook which wrapped itself around the steel work of the facade of a building across the street. His frame mounted cable wrench hauled him out of the crevasse, along with Egan, Peter, and Ray, who had managed to grab hold of the truck's door handles.

"Here we go again," Peter moaned. "Let's get up there and kick Gozer in the ass once more."

They entered the building as people in the street cheered them on. It was a long climb up the central staircase to the roof. Once on top of the building, Ray studied the layout. It was clearly the same setup they had faced a few years ago on Central Park West. In the center of the roof, a structure capped by a chromium dome and illuminated by spot lights set in each corner of the building glowed with a blinding brilliance. Standing in front of the structure, stood Yuko and Cobalt, their hands locked together, bowing before the large doors of the structure. They were flanked on either side by demonic looking creatures, the gargoyles that had come to life and had been waiting for their arrival. The large door opened to reveal the altar of a temple. It glowed in a golden light, and a slender being dressed in white with a hideous face glared down at them.

"It's the personification of Gozer," Egan replied.

"Now Choose!", the being in the temple demanded. "The destructor is coming! Choose his form!"

"I know," Ray said to Peter. "I'm clearing my mind."

"My mind is also a blank," Egan added.

The ground shook from heavy footsteps in the distance. Then came the sound of reverberating cry that echoed between the buildings. A dark bipedal figure over eighty feet tall with large scales and a long tail dragging on the ground behind it, stomped towards them from the distance. It shot flames from its mouth, igniting the downtown area in flames.

"My bad this time," Peter sighed. "I couldn't sleep on the flight over here from New York, and there was a Godzilla movie marathon running as the in flight entertainment. He just popped into my head."

The ghostbusters grabbed for their proton guns in unison. "Aim for the temple and cross the streams!", Egan said.

Gozer's hand reached out, and extended three beams of light that encircled the crew. Before they could fire their proton weapons, they were zapped by a wall of pure energy. "I'm prepared for you this time! Your toys have been made inert!" the higher dimensional being laughed. "Now await the end of your world!"

The ghostbusters tried to move, but they had been encased in some kind of force field.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

 **Reno** picked up a piece of sushi with his chopsticks and held it up in front of his face for a long moment before putting it into his mouth. Astro, sitting across from him in the shopping mall's food court looked upward while dangling the pointy edge of a large slice of pepperoni pizza over his mouth. He took a large bite and chewed it.

"What's eating you?", he asked Reno while still chewing.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not polite to talk with food in your mouth?", Reno asked.

"I'm sure Uran did several times," Astro replied swallowing a mouthful. "So again, what's bothering you?".

"I've been reading Egan Spengler's blog archives," Reno replied. "It seems that what happened in NYC a few years ago is repeating itself here, right now, possibly with greater intensity."

"Well the ghostbusters seem to have a handle on it," Astro replied.

"I hope so," Reno answered. "But I've been monitoring the police blotter, as well as the internet chatter, and I've been taking my own readings."

"Readings?" Astro asked.

"Egan's design documents for his PKE meter, and other instruments are on line," the boy explained, "and with help from the Ministry's fabrication shops, I was able to duplicate, even improve upon his devices."

"Well Sarge has been keeping me in the loop," Astro added, "and his reports have been rather positive."

"I know you like him, Astro," Reno countered, "but Sarge isn't very tech savy. His AI was based on the police bot models."

"Maybe, but he has a good sense of observation. No detail gets by him."

"Yeah, but he's only seeing things from street level," Reno pointed out.

At that instant, the red warning lights in the mall started to flash, as klaxons began to wail.

"WTF", Reno asked, "That's the earthquake disaster evacuation warning system, but we didn't feel any seismic shocks."

Suddenly, Astro's heads up display popped into active view, and he saw a message from Sarge appear. Astro held up a finger to Reno to indicate his attention was momentarily elsewhere.

"I've got to get over there," he cried out, quickly jumping to his feet and running towards the mall exit.

Reno ran after him, "Over where?", he yelled.

Astro looked over his shoulder, "Sarge just told me that he saw Godzilla rampaging through downtown not far from Yuko's apartment. That's where he took the ghostbusters."

"Wait a minute!" Reno yelled. "We got to get back to the hangar first!"

"Why?", Astro yelled back.

"Just get us there ASAP," Reno demanded, "I'll explain!"

Astro grabbed Reno around his waist and rocketed upwards. He smashed through the sky light roof of the mall while Reno buried his face in his buddy's chest to protect his eyes from the breaking glass. Thirty seconds later, they were inside the hangar to find Inspector Tawashi cursing at the chair that he was handcuffed to. Relieved to see Astro, he shouted, "Get these damn things off me! Your stupid brother stole my keys and locked me to this chair."

"Cobalt wouldn't do that," Astro barked, cutting the cuffs off with his index finger laser.

"He wasn't in his right mind," the inspector barked back, rubbing his wrist to get the circulation going again, "kept muttering that he was the keymaster and was looking for the gatekeeper."

"That means I was right, " Reno quickly said. "Same thing happened in NYC before, the gate has opened and Gozer has entered our dimension. If Cobalt was taken over, then I'd bet Yuko was too. If the two of them found each other, then it's likely that the destructor has also come though from the other dimension as well, I bet in the form of Godzilla."

"I've got to get there and stop it!," Astro said.

Before he could move, Reno grabbed him by the arm. "You're not going to be able to do anything," Reno yelled. "We're dealing with the supernatural here. You're not strong enough to fight it!" The boy grabbed a proton pack from the equipment rack and tossed it to Astro, and then quickly donned the jumpsuit with his name on it. "We've got to use their equipment to close the portal, that's the only way!"

Astro nodded. He quickly put his own ghostbusters overalls on, and then buckled a proton pack on. "OK, let's get over there!" Astro nodded. With one arm around Reno's waist, he once again took to the sky.

 **Godzilla** continued his march of destruction towards the center of the city. Periodically, he spat fire on the ground, as he crushed cars, and building fronts with his feet. He used his tail to smash buildings, leaving a trail of rumble behind him.

"I've got to stop him!" Astro told Reno, as they flew towards the Yuko's apartment building. He hovered in mid air and aimed his arm at the prehistoric monster, the maw of his surge cannon glowing as it charged up to full power.

"I don't think that's going to stop him," Reno warned.

The huge reptile now had the Takadanobaba Station of the Yamanote line in his sites, he bent over and grabbed the lead car of a train in his mouth and pulled it from the tracks.

"That's going too far!" Astro yelled. He fired a burst at the monster's mid section, but he only succeeded in making Godzilla mad. Astro turned around just as a tongue of flame from the reptiles mouth roared past him.

"That was too close!" Reno cried, "I think he singed my hair!"

"Sorry!", Astro replied, as he rocketed away. "I shouldn't have put you in danger."

The two boys landed on the roof of the former hotel to face Gozer. Astro quickly scanned the area. Frozen like statues, Egan, Ray, and Peter stood motionless near the parapet of the building. "Looks like Gozer got the drop on them before they could do anything," he told Reno, pointing towards the central structure where the demonic being stood in front of a glowing altar.

"Are you gods?" the Demon asked.

"YES WE ARE!", Reno yelled, placing his hand over Astro's mouth, and whispering, "When a demon asks you if you are a god you say YES!" Then he yelled at Gozer, "This is our city, not yours!"

Reno clicked the safety off on his proton rifle, and Astro followed suit. "When I give the word, we fire," he told Astro. "We must combine our beams and aim for the altar."

"Right," Astro nodded.

Godzilla had advanced towards the center of the city, his huge head towered over the edge of the building, Reno could feel his hot breath at his neck. "NOW!" he said, aiming the proton weapon, and bracing himself for the recoil.

They pulled their triggers together. Two spiraling beams of white hot plasma raced towards Gozer. Astro carefully controlled his rifle, combining its output with Reno's. The streams crossed and hit the central structure full on, causing a massive explosion. The blast knocked Reno and Astro over, and flying debris buried them under a pile of rubble. Godzilla was leaning over the edge of the roof line of the building when the blast occurred. He exploded, sending a torrent of green ectoplasm raining down from the sky.

Astro recovered first, digging himself out from under a thick coating of thick goo. He looked around and saw the outline of a body buried under a pile of a crusty smoking tar like substance, and recognized it as Reno's outline. Astro quickly dug his buddy out, "Are you OK, Reno? Can you breathe?", he asked.

Reno rubbed his eyes. "I'm OK," he said. "But I feel like the floor of a taxicab."

Three voices moaned from behind them. Egan, Peter, and Ray, broke themselves free from a thick layer of a hardened concrete like coating of slime and managed to get to their feet. "Good work, Kid," Ray said, slapping Reno on the back. "How did you know ..."

"To cross the streams?", Reno replied. "It was all in your blogs."

"You mean you read them?" he asked. "I didn't think anybody did."

Astro slowly walked around the piles of rubble, carefully picking through the wreckage. He finally came upon two statue like figures, each encased in a layer of a hardened plaster like material.

"Over here!", he yelled. "Help me!"

Reno and the ghostbusters quickly made their way toward where the boy robot was standing. Astro was already cracking the shell of one of the figures. Yuko opened her eyes. Her initial panic subsided when she saw Astro's face.

"Yuko kun, Daijōbu desu ka?", Astro asked.

"Daijōbu desu," Yuko voiced. "But I think I could use a stiff drink."

A few feet away the other figure slowly broke out of its cocoon, like a baby chick cracking through an egg. "Where am I?" Cobalt cried out as he got up and brushed himself off.

"Do either of you guys remember anything?" Reno asked.

"Iie," Yuko sighed looking down at her torn clothing.

"I don't remember anything that happened after I was chased out of your apartment by that bear thing," Cobalt said, looking at Yuko. "I do remember that your apartment got trashed, though."

"I'm going to sue that Drake Lampe," Yuko said angrily. "I bet he knew this building was haunted."

* * *

 **Egan** finished his fourth measurement run on the laser containment chamber. "The energy readings have been going down on each run," he announced. "It would seem that with the portal now sealed, the paranormal energy in the area is rapidly dissipating."

"Meaning?" Inspector Tawashi asked

"Meaning, your fair city won't be needing our services any longer," Ray said.

"What about the ghosts that you have locked up in there," Dr. O'Shay asked pointing to the large red steel box in the corner of the hangar.

"You can power it down in about a week's time," Egan explained. "Then just dump it in the ocean a few miles off shore. You won't be bothered by the spirits locked up inside. Their energy will gradually fade as the containment field breaks down. In other words, they will finally find peace."

Ray and Peter, packed up the last of the equipment into the shipping containers that they had came in. "We'll have to ship the proton packs back home by bonded courier, the same way they were shipped here," Ray said. "At least we won't have to pay double for expedited delivery, we won't be needing them immediately once we get back to NYC."

Yuko entered the hangar and called out to the professor, "I thought I'd find you here Hakase," she said.

"Just cleaning up some loose ends," O'Shay smiled. "How are things on the home front?"

"Well I'm not moving back into my apartment anytime soon," she sighed, "and the entire contents of my wardrobe closet are ruined due to smoke and water damage."

"Once the repairs are made on the building it should be safe to reoccupy it," Egan spoke up. "I've marked up the blueprints for the city engineers showing what structural changes needed to be made to render the portal inactive forever. Fortunately, the building was well designed, it was able to withstand the carnage without losing any structural integrity. Of course all of the units on the upper four floors will need to be repainted, recarpeted, and fumigated."

"That may be, but I think I'll pass on it," Yuko said. "If I ever here anyone say " _zuul_ again, I'll probably jump out of my skin."

"By the way," Dr. O'Shay replied. "Before you guys leave, the Emperor wants to see you. I think he wants to give you some kind of honorary medal for service to this country."

"Well we were hoping to catch an early flight," Venkman said, "But we wouldn't want to screw up relations between our two countries, so I guess we can stay another day and accept his highnesses honorarium."

* * *

 **Uran** looked at her two brothers and pulled her lower eyelid down with her pinky. "I TOLD you I saw a ghost," she pouted.

"OK, you were right this time," Astro voiced. "I guess Kobaruto and I really did see Tobio's ghost, he was real and not a figment of our A.I.'s."

"Gee I wonder what happened to him?" Uran sighed, "Did the Ghostbusters bag him in their trap?"

"Yeah they did clean out Tenma's old house," Astro said, "But I wouldn't worry about it. According to Egan, ghosts are troubled souls that got stuck in our plane of existence. He believes that by gradually releasing the energy from that containment gizmo, all of the tortured souls that they trapped will finally find peace."

"You mean they will go to heaven?" Uran asked.

"That's what priest would say," Dr. O'Shay smiled.

"What about Gozer?", Cobalt asked.

"Hopefully, that evil has been boxed up for good," O'Shay said. "But if something like that ever surfaces here again, at least we know who to call."

\- The End -


End file.
